Transmission mechanism.



H. 0. MENARD.

TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED IA1I.31, 1911.

l Qfa Patented June 4, 1918.

2 SHEETS-*SHEET 2.

g@ WM@ HUBERT CHARLES mm, F sT. munten, FRANCE, rrlaalvrsiinssronr MECHANISM accenno.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June a, raie.

Application tiled January 31, 191'?. Serial No. 14S-,799.

. To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that -.I, HUBERT CHARLES MNARD, citizen of the Republic of France,

" and resident of St. Maurice, Seine, France,

have invented certain new and useful' Transmission Mechanism, which is fully set forth in the following specification.

This invention-relates to a mechanism lfor the transmission of movement by means of a Maltese cross, chiefly applicable to apparatus for taking or 'projecting cinematographic views, but adapted also to be used wherever it may be necessary totransform a continuons into an` intermittent rotary motion. In order to make the following explanation as clear as possible, the transmission mechanism forming the subject of this invention is assumed to be applied to a cinematograph; but in view of the reservations just mentioned, this a plication is merely given by way of examp e.

In a cinematograph apparatus, it is necessary to convert a continuous rotar motion into an intermittent motion, as t e image must be projected while it is stationary. In'order to obtain a transmission of movement of that kind, in certain types of apparatus there is used al mechanism lknown under the name of Maltese cross.

It has been found that in'order to insure perfect worl'ng, it was necessary-with a four arm Maltese cross, which is the one most generally used--to cause the driving fingerl to describe during its action on the angle of rotation of 90.

. In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a twoart, or compound, diacross, an

grammatic,view, the eft-hand part of which represents the ordinary Maltese cross driving mechanism of a cinematographic apparatus; and the right-hand part, the ordinary obturator used therewith.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of a theoretical form of obturator which has been proposed.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view, in side elevation, of an improved form of Maltese cross driving mechanism embodying the principles of the present invention.

`-' Fig. 4 is a transverse section of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a diagram explanatory. of the principles involved in the construction represented in Figs. 3 and4.

As shown in Fig. 1, if a. isjthe shaft continuously. rotated by hand or by an electric motor, and b the driving finger mounted on g The continuously rotated shaft a drives x the obturator directly, or by means of a gear with any multiplication. Forfacilitating the description, it will be assumed that the driving is that to an angle c described by the disk c I keyed to the continuously rotating shaft a,

corresponds the same angle a described by the obturator; but the reasoning mentioned hereinafter applies as a whole, with the exception of one factor, to the case of a gear with multiplication. s

To a rotation a of the disk c corresponds therefore the same angle ,a for the obturator. But as the lm, in order to steady the image, must be shut ofi during the whole of its movement, the opaque portion a e f of the obturator which passes in front of the lm during its movement, must have an angular extent of at least 90 (neglecting the extra obturation required for covering the Vluminous en cil). The open portion a. e g f will t en be 360-90=270.

It has been now found that in order to avoid shimmering in projecting apparatus, it was necessary to have an obturator having alternately opaque and open sectors, the opaque sectors as well as the open ones, being as far as possible, equal toeach other.

direct, that is to`say,f. 'i

An ideal obturator would be that shown 1n Fig. 2 in which the opaque sectors 1, 2, '3 are equal to eachother and equal to the open sectors 1 2 3'; in this case', each sector has an angular extent of 60. It is impossible to obtain this result if, when using it is necessary, as

the proportion between the opaque and the` open portions is very close to that in Fig. 2, the arms of the Maltese cross have been shortened in certain apparatus as shown -in' Fig. 1, so that the angle 'or described ,by the obturation sector finger b during the action on the cross 1s close'to 60. The obturator then givesagood results, both from the point of viewy ofsteadying the image and from the point of view of the absence of shimmering, vbut the driving of the Maltese cross takes place with shocks and with an exaggerated pull on the film, so that the remedy is frequently Worse than the evil.

The problem to be solved .may put in the following manner:

To' make the driving finger describe, durbe therefore ing its action on the Maltese cross, an angle of 90 while using an obturator havingalternately opaque and open sectors equal toeaeh other, that is to say having sectors of an angular extent equal or neai` to 60.

The device forming the subject of the `presentinvention solves the problem and consists chieliy in interposing between the continuously rotating shaft driving the obturator, and the disk carrying the driving finger for the Maltese cross, a mechanical transmission or gear, with a uniformly varied movement, bringing about:

(1) During'the movement of the Maltese cross, a rotation of the disk carrying the *drivingvv finger, through an angle of 90 for `a rotation of 60 of the continuously rotated shaft. (2)

cross, driving During the stoppage of the Maltese a rotation of the disk carrying the finger, through` an angle .of for a rotation of 36W-450":300O of the continuously rotating shaft (in the calculation, the values of 60o and 90O are not absolute, and the pro portion could be selected so as to give any i other value to the angles through which the complete revolution of the continuously rotating shaft corresponds however to a ro.

tation through a complete revolution of the disk carrying the driving finger.

Various mechanical means can be used for carrying out the invention in practice; by way shown in Figs. 3 and el will be described.

On the continuously rotating shaft a.

driven by hand or by an electric motor, is

`mounted a disk h provided with a slot i in which is engaged a finger ZJ mounted on 4 the face of the disk c, the latter carrying on its other face the driving linger b and being mounted to rotate about the center j which does'not coincide with the center a of the disk h; the disk c being mounted on a shaft c"whicli passes through the case m, hereinafter referred to, at the opposite sidefrom,

the shaft a.. It will. be readily understood 'and the same radius.

-shaft a, instead of always decreasin 'of example a 'simple arrangement` incenso that it will be'possible to find such relative positions of two points j and a that, during itsaction on the cross (Fig. 5), the driving finger Z) will describe about the point j an angle of 90, while the shaft c vvill turn through an angle of 60. lf, as shown in Fig. 5, the fingers b and b are arranged on one and the same radius of the disk c, the speed of the finger b will reach the maximum at Ifaiid the minimum at b and will be uniformly accelerated from b to b, and uniformly retarded from 5 l to b. f 1

The greater the distance of the point'a from y', the smaller will be the angle.4 through which the continuously rotating shaft will have to turn for an angle of rotation of 90 of the finger` ZJ about the center Obviouslythe fingers b and b need not be arranged in practice (Figs. 3 and Ll) on one ln the same way, it will be understood that the fingers b and b could be arranged in line with each other.

For certain applications, it may be necessary to increase the angle of rotation of the it for the same angle of rotation of the. nger Z) about the point y'. It will only be necessary, in order to fulfil that requirement; either to place the point c at a', (Fig. 5), while leaving the point j inits place, it being understood that the Maltese cross remains in its original place; or to leave the centers j and a in theirplace, but to shift diametrically the Maltese cross. l

It has been seen from the preceding that, by varying the respective positions of the centers y' and a, the -speed of one of the movable bodies relative to the other is also va` ried. By va judicious selectionv of the respective positions of the centers jand a when designing the apparatus, it will be possible to fix the relative speed of the driving finger for the Maltese cross, or the angle described by the said lfingerduring the driving for a given angle of rotation .of the driving shaft during the same period of time. It is possible further to vvary the relative speeds of the two movable parts in an apparatus already built. This variation could be obtained first of all by making it possible to alter, by some constructional device, the respective positions of the centers j and a. Another' and simpler way consists in modifying, for a givenand immovable construction of centers j and a, the respective positions of the fingers b b. To that end the finger b could be mounted for instance in a guide enabling the said finger to be shifted on the disk c.

In the device described, there could be sionlbetwe'en the disks .c and hthat to a i complete revolution of the disk c would corincasso -driving devices used in certain cinematographic apparatus.

What claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A motion-transforming driving mechanism, comprisin ,in combination, a continuously-rotat1ng s aft; an intermittently-act*- ing driving part; and a mechanical connec tion between said driving part and said.

shaft, acting to accelerate the mean angu lar speed of the driving part during a portion of'each revolution and to retard such speed 'during the remainder of the revolu.- tion.

2. A motion-transforming driving mechanism, comprisingin combination, a' disk; an intermittently-acting driving part secured to said disk; a finger mounted on said disk; a continuously-rotating shaft; and a disk mounted on said shaft and provided with a slot wherein said finger is engaged; the two disks having their centers disposed out of alinement with each other.

3. A motion-transforming driving mechanism, comprising, in combination, a disk;A

an intermittentlyeacting drivi I part secured to said disk; a continuous y-rotating shaft; and a disk mounted on said shaft; one

of said disks being provided with a finger, and the other with a slot wherein said finger is engaged; the two disks having their centers disposed out of alinement with each other.

- 4. motion-transforming driving mechanism, comprising, in combination, a rotatably-mounted Maltese cross; a disk; a dri finger acting intermittently on the arms 0% the Maltese cross and secured to saiddisk; a continuously-rotating shaft; a disk secured to said shaft; and a second nger provided on one of said disks, the other kdisk being providedwith a slot wherein said nger is engaged; the two disks having their centers disposed out ofalinement with each other.

5. A motionltransforming driving mechanism, comprising, in combination, a disk; an intermittently-actingdriving part secured to said disk; a continuously-rotating Shaft; and a disk mounted on said shaft; one of said disks having a slotl therein, and the other having a fin er engaged in said slot; means being provided for varyingthe rela- ,tive positions of the centers of the disks.

In testimony whereof I have signed this ing witnesses. y

` HUBERT cs naman. [1.. a1 Witnesses:

Emmi. Lnnna'r, Gassen E. LIGHT.

specification in the presence of two subscrib- 

